Most phthalate-free plasticisers are safe for use in PVC medical devices, according to a report from the Danish environmental and health authorities. The report covers ten existing PVC plasticisers and says they are appropriate alternatives to DEHP, although it notes that not all the toxicological assessments could be conducted because of a lack of data.

“The report concludes that most of the alternatives to DEHP that we evaluated for their human health and environmental hazard profiles are considered to be appropriate alternatives, but data are lacking for some of the alternatives, before a toxicological assessment can be carried out,” said Shima Dobel from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

The Agency conducted the report, entitled “Alternatives to classified phthalates in medical devices”, with the Danish Health and Medicines Authority and PVC Information Council Denmark (Copenhagen; www.pvc.dk). PVC Information Council Denmark is a member of the PVCMed Alliance (www.pvcmed.org), a global organisation representing suppliers to the PVC medical industry, which provided data on the ten plasticisers to the Danish authorities. “We encourage the value chain to commit to continuous improvement of safety in order to develop innovative products for all PVC healthcare applications,” said PVCMed Alliance representative Brigitte Dero.